


Know That Face.

by CristinaBlackthornKingson



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: American Politics, American Presidents, Best Friends, Canon Character of Color, Canon Queer Character of Color, Catholic Character of Color, Character(s) of Color, Children of Characters, Developing Friendships, Dogs, Epic Friendship, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Female Character of Color, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Kings & Queens, LGBTQ Character of Color, Long-Distance Friendship, Loving Marriage, M/M, Male Character of Color, Male Friendship, Meet the Family, Modern Royalty, Mother Hen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Motherhood, Other, Pre-Canon, Pregnancy, Princes & Princesses, Racism, Royalty, Step-parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CristinaBlackthornKingson/pseuds/CristinaBlackthornKingson
Summary: In 1997 when June is 3 and Ellen is pregnant with Alex, Ellen and Oscar are invited to a State Dinner at Buckingham Palace by Queen Mary, where they soon meet Prince Arthur and Princess Catherine and end up becoming close friends.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz & Oscar Diaz, Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Arthur Fox & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Arthur Fox/Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Ellen Claremont& Catherine Fox-Mountrchristen-Windsor, Ellen Claremont/Leo, Ellen Claremont/Oscar Diaz, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Shaan Srivastava, June Claremont-Diaz & Ellen Claremont-Diaz, June Claremont-Diaz & Oscar Diaz, Philip Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Queen Mary
Comments: 10
Kudos: 77





	Know That Face.

**Author's Note:**

> ****Trigger Warning:***   
>  Racism

It is a cool and windy afternoon in late October 1997, when Ellen Claremont and Oscar Diaz receive a very unexpected piece of mail. 

At 32 and 34 both Oscar and Ellen are slowly but surely building a life together, and a good one at that. Ellen is one of if- not _the-_ best lawyer in Texas, she’s very well known and has been arguing cases before the Supreme Court, since she was 30. She was also recently elected to The House of Representatives, while Oscar who is also a pretty well known lawyer, just made it into Congress, making he and Ellen a pretty famous couple, especially because they’re doing all this at such a young age, with a 3 year old daughter and a new baby arriving in March. 

They are both aware of how well known they are, and the fame they have gained, but when Oscar opens a particular letter on this cool October day, neither of them are expecting what is in it. 

“Ellen, are you expecting any mail from England?” Oscar calls out to his wife, coming inside from collecting the mail, while Ellen feeds June her breakfast. 

“No, why?” Ellen asks, picking up June’s spoon when she drops it for what feels like the millionth time. 

“There’s a letter addressed to both of us and it’s got a stamp on it that says it was delivered by the Royal Mail.” Oscar tells her, frowning down at the envelop in his hand. 

“Maybe it’s our first piece of fan mail.” Ellen jokes, sharing a smile with Oscar. 

“Do people write fan mail for politicians?” He asks, opening the envelop carefully, being cautious not to rip it.

“Maybe, I use to write letters to The President when I was younger, though I don’t think momma ever sent them, thank god.” Ellen says in an amused tone, slightly embarrassed about this.

“Holy shit!” Oscar suddenly exclaims in a loud voice, earning a glare from his wife, who doesn’t like people cursing around June, especially now she’s at the age where she repeats everything she hears. “Sorry, but... look!” Oscar hands the letter to Ellen and takes over making sure June eats, while Ellen gets up to read the letter. 

It is printed on thick, creamy paper and at the top there is a printed image of a gold crown, above the letters M and R. 

below the heading, reads the following 

_**‘The Lord Chamberlain is Commanded by The Queen to invite Mrs Ellen Claremont and Mr. Oscar Diaz to a State Dinner, in Buckingham Palace, on Tuesday the 26th of October 1997 at 7:00 P.M.’** _

“Oh my fucking god.” Ellen totally forgets about the ‘No swearing in front of June’ rule, after reading the invitation. “Oscar, is this for real? Have we been invited to London to a state dinner, with The Queen?” Ellen asks in a shocked and disbelieving tone. Oscar nods. 

“Yup, we have. I’ve heard of members of The House of Representatives and Congress getting invited to things like this, but not until they’ve been working for a long ass time, I mean I know we’ve both been lawyers since our earlier 20s, but I’ve only been in Congress a year and and you’ve only been in the House of Representatives a year and a half.” Oscar says, still trying to wrap his own mind around all of this. He never in a million years thought he would be invited to dine with the fucking Queen of England, him, a brown Mexican kid of immigrants who grew up dirt poor and fought for absolutely everything he has now, he always thought it was the rich white men who got invited to these things, but maybe things are changing, maybe the world won’t be so full of hatred and intolerance when June and her brother or sister are older. 

“This... this is absolutely amazing! Oscar I can’t believe this, we did this, us!” Ellen exclaims in an excited tone, leaning down to kiss her husband. 

“We sure did _mi amada_ , I love you.” 

“I love you too, so much.” 

The dinner is in two weeks time, so they spend the next two weeks figuring out what they themselves are going to wear, what June is going to wear and what they need to pack for the 5 day stay in London, as well as the plane trip, which is an 11 and a half hour journey, which normally wouldn’t be fun anyway, but add a 3 year old and being 5 months pregnant on top of that and it really is going to be difficult. Ellen and Oscar are almost tempted to buy first class seats. Almost. 

Thankfully when the day comes, the flight is pretty smooth and easy. They get 3 seats together and Ellen is able to sit in the aisle seat so she can get up and walk around when her hip pain kicks in, they’ve put June in the middle because she’s so small the seat is plenty big enough for her, and Oscar is in the window seat. 

June isn’t a big fan of the take off, but she’s easily distracted by some candy Oscar smartly thought to bring on board. After that, she’s perfectly content with the in flight entertainment system, as well as her coloring and activity books that they brought. When she needs to sleep, she’s happy to curl up in Oscar’s lap and sleeps for a solid 2 hours. 

They finally arrive in Heathrow Airport at approximately 1:00 P.M., though it feels more like 1:00 A.M.

Thankfully they don’t have to worry about driving, as a chauffeur from Buckingham is there to pick them up.

After a brief 15 minute car ride they arrive at Buckingham, where staff are waiting to take their bags in and escort them to their room where they will be sleeping the next couple of nights. 

Walking through Buckingham Palace is a totally surreal experience for Ellen, who grew up as the only child of a single mother, in bible belt Texas, where both she and her mother were constantly judged for something a man no longer in the picture did. People in all stages of her life told Ellen she’d accomplish nothing, but here she is today, only 32, a highly respect member of the House Of Representatives, a lawyer, a wife, a mom to a beautiful and strong little girl with another baby on the way, walking through Buckingham Palace.

“Mama?” June’s little voice echos through the grand halls of The Palace. “Mama is this a castle?” She curiously asks. Ellen smiles fondly at her daughter, who is holding her hand and walking by her side. 

“Not exactly baby girl no, this is a palace, it’s where The Queen and other members of The Royal Family live.” Ellen gently explains. At this, June’s face lights up. 

“I get to play with her doggies?” She hopefully asks, having seen images and videos of The Queen’s beloved corgis, on TV and such. Ellen laughs softly and smooths June’s hair down. 

“Maybe, we’ll see.” 

A few minutes later they arrive in their room, which is approximately the size of their entire ground floor of their home in Texas. It has a big four poster king size bed, with light blue covers, white walls and matching blue curtains. There are two solid oak brown chests of drawers against the far wall, beside which is a fireplace, a vanity table and mirror, and two armchairs. 

“Oh my god this is beautiful.” Ellen says in a tone of awe, setting her bag down and looking around in amazement. She’s never stayed in such a nice place before. 

Just then Ellen feels June let go of her hand and before she knows it her daughter has dashed across the room and started to jump up and down on the bed. 

“Catalina June Claremont-Diaz.” Ellen begins in a firm tone. “I know you did not just start jumping on a bed in a damn palace.” 

Oscar goes to pick June up, when they hear a light and amused laugh from the doorway. When they look over, they see a tall blonde man standing there, smiling warmly at them. Almost immediately, Ellen recognizes him.

“Oh my god.” Ellen gasps. “Y-Your Prince Arthur. I-I am so sorry for my daughter jumping on the bed like that, she’s just so excited to be here.” The man- Prince Arthur- shakes his hand and bats his hand in the air, as if waving away something. 

“No need for apologies, I have a daughter around that age too, and she has jumped on every piece of furniture in this palace, she’s a bit of a daredevil, nothing at all like her calm and laid back brothers.” Arthur chuckles, thinking of all the times Bea has jumped from couch to couch while Philip tells her to be careful and to not ruin the furniture, he’s a very serious 6 year old. “How old is she?” Arthur then asks, nodding at June who is now clinging to Oscar who has her settled on his hip. 

“3, she just turned 3 a couple weeks ago.” Oscar replies. Arthur’s smile grows.

“Same age as my daughter then, my little Bea, they’re so much fun at this age aren’t they? And hectic.” He laughs. 

“That’s been our experience so far, though June is our first so we have a lot to learn yet.” Oscar lightly says. 

“Things are about to get a lot more hectic as well, when this little one arrives.” Ellen adds, resting her hand on her bump.

“Oh having two children is wonderful, it is difficult going from 1 to 2, but wonderful also, double the cuddles and when you get to see your kids being so sweet and loving with each other it’s worth it.” Arthur assures them, thinking of how when Bea was a new baby, Philip (at only 3) wasn’t very interested in her most of the time, but would sometimes lie down on the ground beside her during tummy time, and make her laugh and smile, though it usually ended up with her pulling his hair. 

The 3 of them talk for a bit longer, before Arthur decides to get back to his wife and kids and let Ellen, Oscar and little June settle in.

That evening the three of them spend about 2 hours getting ready, Ellen struggling to get into her dress with the bump in the way, Oscar continuously messing up his tie because he’s so nervous, and June throwing a tantrum over putting her shoes on. 

Thankfully when there’s a knock on the door at 6:45 P.M. they are ready, and follow the staff member through the halls to the ballroom, where they are then instructed to stand beside a row of other people, and wait for The Queen to arrive.

They wait a good five or ten minutes, before The Queen finally enters the room, wearing a long white gown over which she wears a blue sash, she wears matching white gloves and on her graying hair is perched a silver tiara, with ruby red jewels in the center, going all the way around to the back. 

They wait a further five minutes for The Queen to reach them. She stops in front of Ellen first, who thankfully clearly remembers the quick briefing she and Oscar were given, on greeting The Queen, a few hours ago. 

“Your Majesty.” The man beside The Queen begins. “This is Mrs. Ellen Claremont, member of the House of Representatives of The United States of America.” 

Ellen nods her head slightly, before quietly saying 

“Your Majesty.” 

The Queen smiles tightly and holds out a hand to Ellen. 

“When are you due?” The Queen asks, eyeing the bump as Ellen shakes her hand. 

“The Middle of March, M’am.” Ellen says, resting her hands on her bump once the handshake is done. The Queen simply nods. 

“Very good.” Is all she says, before she and the man next to her move along the line, to Oscar and June. 

“Your Majesty, this is Mr. Oscar Diaz and Miss Catalina Claremont-Diaz.” 

Oscar slightly nods and quietly says 

“Your Majesty.” 

The Queen looks Oscar and June up and down, her face slightly wrinkling in distaste when she hears Oscar’s Mexican accent. Then she simply moves on without saying a word to either of them.

Ellen is about to step forward and say something because nobody, not even The Queen, snubs her daughter and husband. Just as she is about to speak up, she feels Oscar lay a hand on her arm. 

“Leave it El.” He quietly says so that no one else can here. 

“Leave it? Oscar she just snubbed you and our daughter because of the color of your skin and your accent!” Ellen whisper yells. 

“I know, I’m not pleased about it either but if we make a scene and got thrown out it won’t do us any favors, if we want to get further in the world of politics we need to maintain good international relations, especially with The Crown, you know that.” Oscar explains, trying not to let his anger seep into his tone. He doesn’t know why he’s surprised that this rich, conservative old white lady is racist, but he is, and it never stops hurting when he faces shit like this. 

After dinner, they get to walk around and mingle with lots of different people, Ellen and Oscar always sticking by each other’s side and Oscar holding June the whole time.

At one point in the evening, as they are standing looking around them, wondering who to talk to next, they are approached by a tall young woman with long curling dark brown hair. She is dressed in a beautiful floor length and flowy emerald green dress. Sitting atop her brown curls is a silver tiara, twinkling in the lights of the ballroom. In her arms she is holding a baby who looks to be about 6 or 7 months old, he has a mop of thick blonde hair, pale white skin and big blue eyes. 

Both Ellen and Oscar almost immediately recognize her as Princess Catherine, next in line for the throne. 

“Y-your Royal Highness.” Ellen stammers, bowing her head slightly in a sign of respect, while Oscar does the same. 

Catherine beams warmly at them both. 

“Please just call me Catherine, or Cat, I do so hate formalities. You must be The Claremont-Diaz’s, from America?” She asks in a bright and joyful tone. 

“Y-yes m’am, we are.” Ellen says, not feeling right calling a Princess by her first name. 

“Pleasure to meet you.” Catherine then turns her attention to June, and her face lights up. “And who is this little cutie?” She asks. 

“This is June, our daughter.” Oscar tells her, adjusting June on his hip. 

“Well hello June, it’s very lovely to meet you.” Catherine brightly says, holding out her hand to June, who smiles brightly back at her and puts her tiny hand in hers. “Goodness you are just too cute! How old are you June?” June suddenly becomes very shy and turns her face into Oscar’s shoulder. 

“She’s 3.” Oscar says, smoothing June’s hair down. 

“Oh same age as my little girl then!” 

Just then Prince Arthur walks up to Catherine’s side, walking by his side is a little boy of about 6, with neatly combed blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. On Arthur’s hip is a little girl with wild dark brown hair, intense blue eyes and a mischievous smile. 

“Hello love.” Arthur greets his wife, slipping an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek. “I’m going to take Bea up to the nursery for a bit so she can play without breaking your mother’s fine china or knocking anyone over, I’ll be back in about an hour.” 

“Alright, would you like to take June to the nursery too and she and Bea can play together? I’m sure it will be much more fun for her than this boring old banquet.” Catherine asks, smiling at Ellen and Oscar.

“I’ll take her, not that I don’t trust you Your Highness, she’s just real clingy, one of the reasons we call her June-bug.” Oscar says in an amused tone. He then shares a brief kiss with Ellen, telling her he’ll see her later, and heads off with Arthur and the girls, leaving Ellen with Princess Catherine and her two sons. 

The little boy with the blonde hair leans into Catherine’s side and quietly says 

“Mummy, I want to find Gran.” Catherine presses a kiss to the top of his head and quietly says 

“Alright love, you go ahead and I’ll be here talking to Miss Claremont.” 

“Most people call me Mrs. Diaz, even after I correct them, everyone automatically assumes I took my husband's name.” Ellen comments, when Catherine turns back to her. 

“Oh I would never assume, it’s a terribly sexist assumption to make, I wouldn’t be a very food feminist if I made the assumption myself. I didn’t drop my maiden names either, though I did take my husbands name too, we hyphenated, Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor.” Catherine says in a warm tone, making Ellen feel very at ease with her. 

Just then the little boy in her arms starts to fuss a bit, but it only takes Catherine assuring him she’s got him to calm him down. 

“This is my son, by the way, my youngest baby and my last baby, Henry.” Catherine tells Ellen, smoothing Henry’s mop of blonde hair down. 

Ellen smiles and rests her hands on her bump. 

“This one is my last too,” She tells her. 

“When are you due?” Catherine curiously asks. 

“Oh not for another five months, in March.” 

“Really? Around what date?” 

“The 20th.” At this Catherine laughs before saying 

“That’s exactly when I was due with Henry! He was a week and a day early though, born on the 12th of March.”

“I went early with June so I’m hoping I’ll go early again.” Ellen tells her, smoothing her hands over her bump, wincing when she feels a strong kick from the baby. 

“How have you found your pregnancy? Everyone says the second is easier but I certainly didn’t think so.” Catherine asks. 

“Honestly it’s been pretty rough, I had severe morning sickness in the first trimester, and most of the second, it only stopped a couple weeks ago. I’ve had other complications too, I honestly just want my baby here safe and sound now.” Ellen sighs. Catherine frowns sympathetically. 

“I am so sorry to hear that. If anything happens while you still here you must ask for me immediately and I’ll take you to the OB I saw during all 3 of my pregnancies, she was absolutely wonderful, I had an unplanned Cesarean with Bea, she was flipped sideways at the last minute so it was all a big hassle and shock, but my doctor was absolutely wonderful and I still had a wonderful birth, I got to see everything, they didn’t put the drape up.” Catherine tells her, eager to help out a fellow mother, especially since she knows how awful pregnancy can be. 

Ellen of course feels extremely honored to have Princess Catherine recommend her a doctor and offer to take her to said doctor should the need arise.

They chat for another hour or so, about anything and everything, though mostly Ellen’s job, Catherine’s English Lit degree and her attempt at writing a book, Catherine’s scandalous marriage to Arthur, and their kids. 

Around 10:00 P.M. the ballroom starts to clear out and it is obvious that the function is over. 

“Come, I’ll show you to the nursery and we can pick the girls up, make sure their dads haven’t gotten them into too much trouble.” Catherine lightly says, linking arms with Ellen and leading her out of the ballroom. “We should stay in touch when you go back to America, I reckon we’re going to be good friends, best friends even, Arthur and I can come visit you in America, our girls can play together, and when your little one is born and Henry’s a bit older they can join them, and Philip will love getting to see The States.” 

“That would be lovely, and I think our husbands get along quiet well too.” Ellen says in an amused tone, now they’ve reached the nursery and she can clearly see Oscar and Prince Arthur sitting across from each other on the floor, Bea and June between them playing happily, while Oscar and Arthur laugh and talk, both with their ties undone, blazers missing and top buttons of their shirts open. 

“Yes indeed.” Catherine agrees. “We’ll be more like family than friends.” 

Unfortunately when Ellen, Oscar and June arrive back home to Texas, they realize neither of them got a contact number for Catherine or Arthur, and there’s hardly any point in writing to them, they receive so much mail from all over the world, it will likely take years for them to read a letter from Ellen and Oscar. 

It’s upsetting and unfortunate but Ellen and Oscar accept it as it is, and assume it simply wasn’t meant to be. 

***22 YEAR LATER****

It is a warm Spring day in 2021, when Ellen and Catherine’s paths cross again. 

Ellen has come up to NY from DC, with Leo, to visit Henry and Alex for the weekend. She’s not had much of an opportunity to visit her son and his boyfriend since she got re-elected, so it’s nice to be here with them for an entire week. 

“Alexander is that the first thing you’ve eaten today?” Ellen asks her son in a stern tone, watching him take a bite out of a chocolate bar followed by a sip of coffee. 

Alex’s eyes widen when he hears her stone tern, he knows he’s in trouble. 

“Maybe.” He says through a mouthful of food. Ellen sighs and shakes her head. 

“Put the coffee and the chocolate down, I’m making you real breakfast.” Ellen decides, gathering her hair up into a bun.

“But its so good!” Alex protests. Ellen narrows her eyes at him. 

“Alex you may be 22 years old but I am still your mother and just like when you were 5, I am still not gonna let you eat chocolate for breakfast, now move so I can make you something nutritious, or would you rather I show Henry your baby photos?” At this, Alex’s eyes widen even further and he immediately drops his chocolate, and David pounces on it. 

“No!” Alex protests, trying to wrestle the bar off the dog. “David I know the world’s a shitty place but you can’t try to poison yourself!” 

“Alex!” This time it’s Henry who protests, making Alex cackle, he always catches Henry off guard with his macabre humor, it’s the best. 

“Hey you boys expecting anyone? There’s a car pulling up.” Leo asks, looking out the kitchen window. Henry frowns and gets up from his seat. When he looks out the window he feels even more confused when he sees Shaan’s car, he knows he and Zahra are here in NY for a few days too, but Shaan has these few days off, and surely he doesn’t want to spend his trip with Henry and Alex? 

“I’ll go check.” Henry says, making his way to the front door and out onto the steps outside. 

“Shaan.” He calls in a confused tone. “What are you doing here?” Shaan grins as the passenger side door opens. 

“You’ll see.” He says. Just then, Catherine steps out of the car and Henry’s heart lifts. He’s missed his mum so much since he last saw her a few months ago, he wasn’t expecting to see her anytime soon. 

“Mum!” Henry happily exclaims, dashing down the steps to greet her with a hug. 

“Hello darling!” Catherine says, holding her son close. “Oh I’ve missed you my baby boy.”

“I missed you too, what are you doing here, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Henry asks as they pull back from the hug. Catherine grins. 

“I wanted to surprise you for your birthday this weekend. Come on, lets go inside shall we?” Catherine asks, picking her bag up from where Shaan set it beside her. 

Catherine thanks Shaan for giving her a lift from the airport, then she and Henry head inside. 

Alex is the first to look up when he hears footsteps and his face lights up when he sees Catherine. 

“Cat!” He all but yells with joy, leaping up from his spot on the floor where he was playing with David, and rushing to give his mother-in-law a hug. 

“Hello sweetheart!” Catherine grins, hugging him tightly. 

“I’m so happy you’re here! I had no idea you were coming!” 

“That was the idea love, I wanted to surprise Henry for his birthday, Bea and Percy helped me organize it all, and June and Nora.” Catherine tells him, as they pull back from the hug. 

“Oh! You met my dad last time he was in London, now you can meet my mom and my other dad, my stepdad.” Alex says in an excited tone. He turns to Leo first, who smiles warmly at Catherine. “Cat this is my stepdad, Leo. Leo this is Henry’s mom, Catherine.” Alex introduces them. 

“Hello Your Highness.” Leo greets, holding his hand out. Catherine returns his grin and shakes his head. 

“Call me Catherine, or Cat, I insist. It’s lovely to meet you.” 

Alex then turns to his mom, who now has hair tied in a messy bun at the back of her head and has put an apron on overs her blouse and jeans. Something in her expressions changes when she sees Catherine. 

“Cat this is my mom, Ellen. Mom this is Henry’s mom, Catherine.” 

Catherine steps forward and instead of shaking Ellen’s hand, she pulls her in for a hug. 

“We’ve met before.” Catherine warmly says, remembering that cool October night all those years ago, when she spent practically the whole evening talking to Ellen. “It’s so good to see you again Ellen.” 


End file.
